Towers of Might, How They Fall
by WhyIsARavenLikeAWritingDesk
Summary: Sequel to These Ties That Bind. Loki finally gets an answer as to what will happen when he falls into that madness and what lengths he'll have to go to to climb back out. Loki/OC


Title:

Author: WhyIsARavenLikeAWritingDesk

Fandom: Thor, 2011

Rating: T

Characters: Loki/OC

Disclaimer: The only one I own is Eirlys. Get off my back.

Summary: The continuation of 'These Ties That Bind'. Loki falls into a coma-like sleep and his mother, the queen seeks the help of one woman no one has seen in years.

"Mother," Loki called from the doorway.

His mother turned to look at him from her seat on the other side of the room. The god always did like his mother's study. It was quiet and peaceful and brought comfort to the front of his mind. His mother sat behind her desk, an unfinished letter in front of her, and she beckoned her dark haired son into the room. Loki entered and closed the door behind him, which his mother raised an eyebrow at, and took a seat in an armchair near his mother.

"This isn't just a friendly visit," she asked, "is it?"

"No," Loki said solemnly, "it's not."

"What's wrong? You've been so distant lately," his mother said, turning toward him fully.

"I should have come to see you sooner, I suppose. I'm," Loki paused, "I'm having a problem with my magic."

"What do you mean? Has something happened?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes and no," Loki said. "Something happened, but I only scared Thor."

His mother's eyebrows shot up. "You haven't been able to scare your brother since you were small."

"Yes, I know," he sighed, something he seemed to be doing often recently, then continued, "I lost control of my magic two days ago. I don't know why. Thor had woken me up and was bothering me and I just snapped"

"Loki," his mother breathed.

"My magic welled up and just started pouring out of me and I couldn't stop it."

"Loki, why didn't you come to me sooner?"

Loki hung his head.

"A woman came to see me," he said. "She said that I wasn't the first to lose control and wouldn't be the last. She knew exactly how it felt to lose that control. She said that, with or without her help, if I didn't find a way to control it that it would push me to madness. Losing just the fraction of control that I did, I felt like I would never be the same."

The dark haired god buried his face in his hands like he used to do as a child. There was silence for the longest time and Loki feared his mother thought something was seriously wrong with him.

"Who was she?" his mother asked. "Who was the woman?"

"She called herself Eirlys," Loki said quietly.

"Oh. Oh, Loki," she said.

"What?" Loki's head snapped up. "What is it?"

"Her name, her full name, is Astrid Eirlys Haldis. She is a great wielder of magic, for all that she has never taken a master. Very, very few people have been graced with her presence, much less spoken with her. I've never met her and even your father has only ever met her once, when she was very young."

"But why?" Loki questioned. "Why is she so special? What makes her so important?"

"I suppose I should start at the beginning," the queen said. "During the Second Great War, with the Frost Giants, a young Frost Giant, Carr, and a young half mortal, Freya Ellie Haldis, fell in love. No one knows how they met or under what circumstances they fell in love, but they each abandoned their respective armies and went into hiding on Earth."

"Why Earth?"

"I suppose because Earth was still a cultivating world; there were places they could hide that had yet to be inhabited. They survived many years, and sometime during those years Astrid Eirlys was born. As you have seen, she retains much of her father's people. When you and your brother were still small enough to sit in your father's lap, Astrid Eirlys was brought to the Court by Heimdall.

"He said that Freya had called his name and begged him to bring Astor here. He was loyal to his duties, has always been, but I do not believe Heimdall could have left the small child to the fate her mother so feared, and we did not blame him. Our youths are meant to be cherished. So Astrid was brought into the Court and soon after Heimdall brought us word of her parents' death. I am sorry to say that she was passed from home to home; people were happy to bring a new child into their homes, but they soon grew unnerved by her eyes."

"What happened to her?" Loki asked, enraptured by the tale.

"She eventually found a guardian in Lady Astor, but by then her heart had been torn out by the people so willing to have her and so willing to give her away. No one saw her for many years, and then Lady Astor passed away. The Lady left her title and all her belongings to Astrid Eirlys. No one could argue that Lady Astor's position at court was now hers. But, I suppose, Astrid did not feel so. She locked herself away and, at least I'm told, took up sorcery to pass the time. She was gone for so long, it was almost as if she had never existed."

"But why have I never heard of her?"

"Not many people bother to speak of those they do not care to remember," the queen sighed. "When she appeared to the first, she was still very young, Lady Astor's death was still fresh on our minds. The young sorcerer she appeared to thought she was a ghost, but took her advice and he advanced farther than anyone thought he would."

"Who was it?" Loki asked. "Do I know of him?"

"You should," his mother said. "The first person she ever appeared to was your teacher, Lord Kirk."

Loki found himself knocking on his teacher's workroom door. There was the sound of glass breaking and a curse and the door was yanked open.

"Loki," Lord Kirk sighed. "I thought you were my wife, come to finally get me for accidentally turning her hair green."

Loki sighed. For all that Lord Kirk was an awesome sorcerer, he was as scattered as the winds.

"No," Loki said. "I've actually come to speak with you about someone you met once."

"Really? Well, I'll try to remember, but you know how I am with things like that."

"Astor Eirlys Haldis," Loki said simply.

"Oh," Kirk said oddly. "No, I suppose there's no way I could forget meeting her. Come in, come in. This isn't something to discuss in the halls."

Kirk ushered his student like so many times before. Loki sighed and slunk over to his usual seat by the fire place; he was too tired for his usual grace so he fell into the chair and remained that way. Lord Kirk took the armchair opposite him and jabbed his fingers toward the fireplace. Flames leapt from the wood and began to crackle and smoke.

"When did our ghost Lady first visit you?" Kirk asked.

"Two nights ago," Loki said, "but I stumbled upon her in the Gardens the night before that."

Kirk shook his head. "One does not just 'stumble upon' Lady Astrid. If she was in the Gardens when you found her , then she was in the Gardens for you to find."

"Why?" Loki asked somewhat desperately.

"I don't know. She has this way about her, Lady Astrid does. She knows someone's potential before they themselves do."

"But," Loki paused to rephrase. "When came to see me, she knew I had just lost control of my magic. How could she know?"

"I do not know," Kirk said again. "When Lady Astrid came to see me, she was still very young. Young enough that, at first, I did not take her seriously. But she knew things, things I had not even told my wife. I will not divulge how she brought me back from my own brink of madness; that is something for you to find out should you accept her offer."

"Can I inquire to your advice?" Loki asked.

"My advice? Take her offer. Nothing she could do would be worse than no help at all."

The day after Loki spoke with his teacher, he could still not decide what to do. The dark haired god took to wandering the gardens, left alone by all those who encountered him by his mother's request. Loki did not even notice the other people. He had no words for anyone and barely had thoughts for himself. Loki forgot about eating or sleeping. He forgot about his duties as a student and as a prince. He forgot about everything. Everything that did not concern the magic buzzing just under his skin.

On the third day of just wandering the Gardens, Loki finally gave up at trying to find the answer in the blooming flowers and retreated into his room. His mother tried to talk to him and even his father took to worrying over him. He would not talk to either of his parents and his brother was still avoiding him. Loki couldn't find it within himself to blame Thor. _He_ was scared of himself. He closed himself in his bedroom, ignoring any food or company his mother offered.

On the fourth day, Loki fell asleep and no one could wake him. The queen called on the finest healers and doctors to see to her comatose son. Odin abandoned his throne and everything in the kingdom came to a stand-still as the king, queen, and crown prince took vigil by Loki's bedside. On the sixth day, the queen demanded the presence of Lady Astrid Eirlys Haldis in her study. The queen met Lady Astrid just before dawn.

"Sit down, Lady Astrid. I believe we need to speak."

"I believe we do," the Lady said, "but please, do not call me Astrid. My name is Eirlys."

"Fine, Eirlys; do you know why my son will not wake up?"

"I do," Eirlys said calmly.

"Why then? Why will my son not wake up?"

"He's at war within himself. His magic is threatening to overtake his conscious and it's taking all his energy to stop it."

"What if Loki cannot overcome it?" the queen asked fearfully.

"Then he will be torn apart from the inside out by the very energies he struggles to control."

The queen sighed and slumped back in her chair.

"Why didn't you help him?" she asked desperately.

"I tried," Eirlys said. "I offered what help I could give, but Loki had to make the decision. Even if I had forced my help upon him, it still would not have been effective. Loki would have to be completely willing and submissive for it to work."

"Would it work now? When he is comatose?"

Eirlys hesitated; it was not in her practice to force her magic unto others.

"I," she sighed, "I could try. But you must understand: if it doesn't work, Loki, myself and anyone else within range will be destroyed. Loki's magic will invade others and tear them to pieces until it finally finds a fit place to reside."

The queen shook her head. "No. I could not place so many in danger. We," she shuddered, holding back tears, "we will have to see if Loki can overcome this on his own."

"Queen Frigga," Eirlys said, standing and turning towards the door, "Please evacuate the wing of the palace where Loki's rooms are. I'll also need one of the roses from the center of the Great Gardens."

"But what are you going to do?" the queen asked, getting to her feet.

"I'm going to go help Loki," Eirlys said quietly.

The queen brought three roses from the center of the Gardens. Eirlys chose the smallest of them then quickly, if not entirely polite, ushered Odin, Frigga, and Thor from the room, leaving the queen to explain what was going on. Eirlys tied her hair back, as she did not want it distracting her, and blew out all the candles so it was completely dark. Her magic seeped out of her, coating the room in a light frost and snow. She uncovered Loki's hand and took it in her own, the garden rose pressed between their palms. She took a seat on the chair Odin vacated.

Eirlys took a deep breath and let Loki's magic draw her in. their magics met and danced and crackled like lightning over their joined hands. She concentrated on his breathing and soon Eirlys was inside Loki's mind, sorting the man from his magic. It was long, pain-staking work, but she continued on diligently. The longer she worked, the more thoughts and memories she picked up, however unintentional. Eirlys concentrated on the magic, but was soon swept up into a memory.

_She was in the Great Gardens watching two boys play. The lighter haired and obviously more out-going one shoved the darker haired boy and ran. The dark haired boy chased after him fruitlessly._

"I hate this memory," a voice said.

Eirlys turned and found the current Loki watching alongside her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here to bring you back," she said.

"I don't want to go back," Loki said. "I don't ever want to go back."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"What is there for me?" he asked sadly. "Mother and father have their perfect son in Thor. I have no friends to miss or to miss me. I have no purpose."

"Everyone has a purpose."

Loki scoffed.

"The sad thing about life is that not everyone finds _their_ purpose."

"And what if there isn't one to find?" he asked.

"Then you make one."

Eirlys woke sometime in the night. No, not night. Only the darkness of Loki's bedroom. She sat up and almost gasped at the tension in her back. The Lady stretched through the pain and tried to stand. She was unsuccessful for the most part. Eirlys was able to move from the chair to the edge of the bed. She lay down beside Loki and planned on a long sleep. An arm rounded her waist and settled just under her breast.

"Thank you," Loki whispered in her ear.

"You're welcome," she sighed. "Now sleep. You have much ahead of you."

"Yes," he agreed. "We do."


End file.
